Olympic Champion: Winter Games Must Be a Refuge From Political Vitriol

Anthony Watson, a 2018 Winter Olympian and Turning Point USA contributor, criticized sports podcaster Sarah Spain’s remarks about Vice President JD Vance in an interview. Watson described how Spain compared the vice president to “a demon” after witnessing him at the Winter Games, saying she felt “literally ill.”

“The Olympics should remain a refuge from the vitriol of politics,” Watson stated. “When the Olympics are on — Summer Games or Winter Games — when you look at it from a … bird’s-eye view from outside of the actual Games itself, the world for the two weeks that the Games are on, when the torch is lit, is at peace because every single person in the world is cheering for their country that’s being represented out there, and everyone’s watching and engaging in the sport.”

Watson, who competed in the skeleton bobsled for Jamaica, emphasized the unifying power of athletics. “That’s the beauty of sports,” he said. “The beauty of sports was that it was supposed to take you out of politics.”

He referenced a moment from the 2018 Winter Games when then-Vice President Mike Pence attended while the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was also present. “They were sitting about five feet apart and they didn’t look at each other,” Watson said. “And so, everyone was now trying to make a whole big spew of like, ‘Oh, they’re sitting close to each other, but they won’t do anything.’ Is there anything really to be at peace for?”

For Watson, such reactions miss the point of international competition. “So, when I hear people like this — these are people that have no connection to sports, don’t really know what it’s like to discipline themselves past giving public opinion that people really don’t even care about,” he said.

He also criticized a broader culture of viral outrage in sports media: “Because how many more podcasts are we going to have to listen to where people have these kinds of things, where they’re having personal tantrums just on the airwaves for people to listen to?”